Properly Loading PS2Link and interfacing with PS2Client

[njanne19]

Hi All,

I am trying to set up a development workflow for PS2DEV/SDK and I've run into a jam when attempting to load and debug with ps2link/ps2client.

On the PS2Link GitHub page, it says the following:

Required modules
PS2Link requires the following IRX modules:

PS2LINK.IRX from: ps2link
PS2DEV9.IRX ps2sdk
PS2IP-NM.IRX ps2sdk
NETMAN.IRX ps2sdk
SMAP.IRX ps2sdk
IOPTRAP.IRX ps2sdk
POWEROFF.IRX ps2sdk
UDPTTY.IRX ps2sdk

The way I have been running PS2Link on my console is via uLaunchElf with a FreeMCBoot card. I open the filesystem for a folder on a flashdrive, that contains ps2link.elf alongside the listed above IRX files (all in one folder).

As a side note, is this the proper way to share .IRX modules for other .ELFs I may upload onto my PS2 in the future if using custom IOP .IRX modules? Having them all in one big folder like this?

When I run PS2Link it seems to work properly. It gives me a welcome message. However, interfacing PS2Link with PS2Client has proven to be rather challenging.

I am seemingly able to launch a single .ELF file with ps2client with the following command:

ps2client -h 192.168.0.10 execee host:TEST.ELF

But that is the extent to which I can interface with PS2Link via PS2Client. I have another terminal window running with ps2client -h 192.168.0.10 listen and that has never provided output. I was under the assumption that it would show printf statements made in my ELF files. Perhaps this assumption is wrong.

After the program instantiated with the execee call begins to run, I seemingly lose communication to the device. The terminal window that called execee also hangs in command execution. The PS2 is still pingable but there is nothing I can do to have the program stop. For example ps2client reset no longer seems to work. I had an idea to set a voltaile piece of memory in my .ELF file for my while loop condition and then set it to 0 using writemem but that didn't seem to work either.

I am not quite sure how to use these tools effectively. I am wondering if anybody else has experience and is willing to share, I am coming up pretty slim with a lot of internet searching.

[rickgaiser]

On the PS2Link GitHub page, it says the following:

Required modules
PS2Link requires the following IRX modules:
PS2LINK.IRX from: ps2link
PS2DEV9.IRX ps2sdk
PS2IP-NM.IRX ps2sdk
NETMAN.IRX ps2sdk
SMAP.IRX ps2sdk
IOPTRAP.IRX ps2sdk
POWEROFF.IRX ps2sdk
UDPTTY.IRX ps2sdk

I think that's outdated information. All irx'es are built into the single .ELF file.

As a side note, is this the proper way to share .IRX modules for other .ELFs I may upload onto my PS2 in the future if using custom IOP .IRX modules? Having them all in one big folder like this?

The proper way is undefined... it's up to the devepoler to find a solution for where to store them, or have them built-into the ELF.

When I run PS2Link it seems to work properly. It gives me a welcome message.

Can you share an image of the welcome message?

I have another terminal window running with ps2client -h 192.168.0.10 listen and that has never provided output. I was under the assumption that it would show printf statements made in my ELF files. Perhaps this assumption is wrong.

You don't need a second terminal. After the execee command ps2client will continue to listen for debug output.

[njanne19]

@rickgaiser Thanks for the detailed response.

I think that's outdated information. All irx'es are built into the single .ELF file.
The proper way is undefined... it's up to the devepoler to find a solution for where to store them, or have them built-into the ELF.

Yeah, I've gotten the sense that there are a few ways to do the same thing. From what I can tell ps2link reformats compiled irx files into raw bytes, and forms a char array with those bytes in another c file during compile time: https://github.com/ps2dev/ps2link/blob/master/ee/Makefile on line 59 I think you can see it happening.

Is the host: notation still an acceptable way of doing things, though? My ideal development setup right now would be to load compiled IRXs directly from my PC running ps2client by invoking SifLoadModule from inside an EE launched with ps2client. Here's an example of that being done with the rom0: directory: https://github.com/ps2dev/ps2sdk/blob/master/ee/rpc/pad/samples/pad.c It was my understanding that when you call execee on a given ELF file for ps2client that it remaps the host: directory to point at where you called ps2client from on your development machine. Any alternatives?

Can you share an image of the welcome message?

https://imgur.com/a/B4C3L6y
Looks otherwise completely normal to me. This is before any .ELF file is run with ps2client

You don't need a second terminal. After the execee command ps2client will continue to listen for debug output.

That's interesting. I've never gotten any printf output from the called execee window either. Is it possible that when my ELF launches it is ditching some of the necessary IRX files needed to continue talking via ps2link/ps2client? From my OP the described behavior feels like there is essentially a loss in communication between ps2client and ps2link. Should I be loading IRX files by default in my ELF to ensure that ps2link persists?

In summary, still losing comms to ps2link after launching first ELF file with ps2client execee. Thanks for the support.

[njanne19]

The explanation for ps2client/ps2link loading drivers makes sense to me.

But unfortunately, resetting the IOP is also one of the first things you'll likely want to do. If you do, then debugging messages and "host:" file access is gone.

Can you expand on this a bit? Why would you reset IOP/or not and then what debugging alternatives are there?

So first things first, does the .ELF file get transmitted to the ps2, or is there no connection at all?

Yes the .ELF does get transmitted properly and begins running on the PS2. Briefly before that occurs I see a message on the PS2's screen that says "Executing host:filename.elf" as specified by ps2client. However, on my dev machine's side I see no output. You seem to be getting a larger amount of output from ps2client.

Back to the resetting IOP question, my main loop is relatively simple:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    //sceSifInitRpc(0); 
    GSGLOBAL *gs = GUI_init(); 
    if (gs == NULL) {
        printf("Failed to initialize graphics or GUI.\n");
        return -1;
    }
    printf("EE: Hello from the main function! Graphics initialized.\n");
    while(keep_running) {
        GUI_next_frame(gs);
        flipScreen(gs); // Updates framebuffer and flips the screen. 
    }

    printf("EE: Exiting main loop, returning to PS2Link...\n");

    return 0; 
}

I have tried both with sceSifInitRpc(0) active and commented out. I wasn't sure if this command would first force a reset of the RPC system before initing, or whether or not that would also force a reset of the IOP. Perhaps their controls are disconnected, I am not sure.

My GUI is relatively simple. I am drawing a handful of triangles using gsKit right now and am essentially following the standard practice from any of their basic examples with function calls moved around. FWIW those printfs are never output either by ps2client or elsewhere, though if I recall worked as-is when run on the PCSX2 simulator. One thing that came to mind is maybe the way I have my loop constructed prevents RPC interrupt handlers/callbacks from being handled. If that is the case, do I need to write them all myself? I was hoping that ps2link would sort of "sit underneath" my program and handle comms to ps2client for me.

[rickgaiser]

PCSX2 is very accurate, so if you see debug messages there, then most likely it's your network setup blocking the UDP broadcast messages. Can you wireshark network traffic to see if the messages are received by your PC?

This should already print something:

int main() {
    printf("Hello PS2!\n");
    return 0;
}

[njanne19]

This was a good tip. My development environment is a VSCode devcontainer running on top of a Windows machine. I originally had network_mode:host for configuration of the container, but it turns out that Windows handles this oddly compared to Linux. I changed my container to forward the two ports for ps2link instead (18193, 18194), and behavior has changed!

Now, I am getting some amount of output (including my printfs!) when running ps2client listen:

loadelf: fname host:build/ee/flightcomputer.elf secname all
Input ELF format filename = host:build/ee/flightcomputer.elf
1 00100000 00038a08 ....
Loaded, host:build/ee/flightcomputer.elf
start address 0x101ae0
gp address 00000000
read/write allocate memory 4000
open name rom0:ROMVER flag 1 data 41378
open fd = 3
open name rom0:ROMVER flag 1 data 41378
open fd = 3
open name rom0:FONTM flag 1 data 41378
open fd = 3
EE: Hello from the main function! Graphics initialized.

But still no output from ps2client execee, and the command hangs. The ELF does successfully load and begins executing. After the first ELF is loaded, I can't seem to cause it to stop and load/reload another. I'm hoping to do so in order to rapidly iterate in source code development. Current option is hard restarting the console. ps2client reset seems to execute (and now responds with "unmounting" in the listen console), but the current ELF seems to continue to run.

[rickgaiser]

But still no output from ps2client execee, and the command hangs.

The output (from the ps2) is only displayed in 1 ps2client session. The one that you start the first. So the ps2client listen will show everything. Like I said, you only need 1: ps2client execee. Then you'll see everything there. It does not hang, it's listening but nothing comes becouse the output is already intercepted by the other running session.

To make ps2client quit after executing the command you can add a parameter like -t 1 I think, it's in the help (-h ?).

After the first ELF is loaded, I can't seem to cause it to stop and load/reload another. I'm hoping to do so in order to rapidly iterate in source code development. Current option is hard restarting the console. ps2client reset seems to execute (and now responds with "unmounting" in the listen console), but the current ELF seems to continue to run.

What I do:

• Have 1 MC card that automatically boots into ps2link
• Press the reset (on/off) button after each test once (ps2 slim resets much faster)

If you want to return to ps2link and have a clean state... good luck.

[njanne19]

Thanks for all the help. Made a bind in FreeMCBoot to launch straight into ps2link when holding L1.